Pakistani singer Fateh Ali Khan dies at 49
1997 - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, an immensely popular Pakistani singer whose dazzling performances of Sufi music brought him fame in the West, died in London. He was 49. Hours after his death, hundreds of fans hurried to his two-storey home in Lahore, Pakistan’s cultural capital. Both young and old crowded inside and along the street, testament to his popularity. Nusrat had taken ill when he arrived in London on business and was rushed to the Cromwell Hospital straight from the airport. Nusrat, who had liver and weight problems, suffered cardiac arrest. Nusrat became renowned for his songs of religious devotion in Urdu, lengthy performances that build in emotion and complexity to the backdrop of stringed instruments and the harmonium in a distinctive style known as qawwali.
August 16
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